- OIF  — — 

•  I 

THOjVIAS  H,  MeGANN,  Gity  SUn/egor, 

- -A_TsTH) - 

ALPHONSE  FTELEY,  Consulting  Engineer, 

- — on  - 


General  Sewerane  Plan, 


FOR  T HE- 


CITY  OF  HOBOKEN,  N.  J. 

1890. 


Printed  by  order  of  the  Mayor  and  Council 


* 


HOBOKEN,  N.  J. 

THE  EVENING  NEWS  PRINT, 


1890 


. 


\  •• 


5 


t  ' 


i 


. 


*  •  ; 


I 


REPORT  ON  A 


| 

GENERAL  SYSTEM  OF  SEWERAGE 

Of  the  City  of  Hoboken,  N.  J. 

Made  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Mayor  and  Council, 

passed  June  11,  1890. 


Hoboken,  N.  J.,  Sept.  8,  1890. 
To  the  Honorable  Mayor  and  Council  of  the 

City  of  Hoboken : 

Gentlemen  —  In  accordance  with  your 
resolution  of  June  11th,  1890,  the  following 
report  and  accompanying  map  upon  a  general 
sewerage  system  for  your  city  is  respectfully 
submitted. 

There  are  many  good  and  urgent  reasons 
for  the  adoption  and  carrying  into  effect  at 
once  a  comprehensive  plan  of  building  your 
q  sewers  and  draining  your  low  lands,  for  the 
(  _  piecemeal  and  haphazard  methods  so  far 
~f-*  pursued  in  the  laying  out  and  construction  of 
3  your  sewers,  especially  of  those  in  the  third 
-£-~and  fourth  wards,  have  not  only  resulted  in 
unnecessary  expense  to  the  adjacent  property 
•owners,  but  considerable  of  what  has  been 
done  will  need  to  be  rebuilt  in  the  future  in 
order  to  conform  with  a  general  system  for 
_ .the  whole  city. 

One  of  the  main  difficulties  in  the  problem 
was  to  design  such  a  system  as  would  utilize 


<P 


_  this  aim  has  been  kept  constantly  in  view 
throughout  the  study  of  the  subject. 


LOCAL  CONDITIONS. 

Your  city  occupies  about  one  and  one-half 
miles  of  frontage  on  the  west  side  of  the  Hud¬ 
son  River,  directly  opposite  one  of  the  great¬ 


est  cities  of  the  world,  and  there  is  no  reason 
with  the  present  facilities  of  communication 
and  the  natural  advantages  of  the  location, 
why  your  city  should  not  be  one  of  the  most 
important  suburbs  of  the  city  of  New  York. 
Without  doubt  one  of  the  chief  reasons  why 
it  has  not  reached  that  distinguished  position 
is  because  of  the  fact  that  over  one-half  of 
your  city’s  site  is  an  unreclaimed  marsh.  The 
growth  of  the  city  must  necessarily  be  slow 
until  proper  steps  are  taken  for  the  filling  in 
of  these  swamps. 

The  marsh  lands,  comprising  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  acres,  varying  iu  width 
east  and  west  from  one  thousand  to  three 
thousand  feet,  lie  between  the  Palisade  “trap” 
ridge  on  the  west  boundary  of  the  city,  and 
the  short  ridge  of  uplands  which  forms  the 
west  shore  of  the  Hudson  River.  This  latter 
ridge,  together  with  “Castle  Point,”  vai'ying 
in  height  from  five  to  one  hundred  feet  above 
mean  high  water  in  the  Hudson  River,  was 
without  doubt  at  one  time  an  island,  and  the 
present  marsh  lands,  now  occupy  the  site  of 
what  was  then  one  of  the  channels  of  the 
river,  which  has  become  gradually  filled  up 
by  the  action  of  the  waters.  The  marsh  con¬ 
sists  of  blue  clay  or  river  silt  overlaid  with 
several  feet  of  decomposed  swamp  vegetation, 
and  ranges  in  depth  from  thirty  to  one  hun¬ 
dred  feet. 


41247 


Before  tbe  building  of  your  city  when  the 
south  and  north  ends  were  open  to  the  free 
circulation  of  the  tides,  these  swamps  were 
similar  to  the  extensive  meadows  now  seen  to 
the  west  of  the  “Palisades,”  their  surface 
being  at  about  mean  high  water,  subject  to 
the  periodical  action  of  the  tides  they  were 
free  from  sewage  or  other  contamination  and 
were  no  menace  to  the  health  of  the  commu¬ 
nity.  But  by  the  construction  of  streets  and 
railroad  embankments  the  natural  outlets 
have  been  closed  and  replaced  by  very  inade¬ 
quate  substitutes  in  the  shape  of  tidal  sewers. 
The  consequence  has  been  that  the  meadow 
surface  has  sunk  from  high  water  level  to 
about  two  feet  below  the  same  datum,  so  that 
during  heavy  rains,  especially  when  they  are 
accompanied  by  extraordinary  high  tides,  the 
water  is  dammed  in,  causing  innundation. 

About  one  third  of  the  swamp  has  now 
been  reclaimed,  the  elevations  of  the  streets 
varying  from  one  to  five  feet  above  high 
water.  The  greater  portion  of  this  reclaimed 
area  is  south  of  Fifth  street,  and  built  up  of 
tenements  containing  a  dense  population. 
This  reclamation  continues  gradually  by  the 
construction  of  streets,  and  largely  by  the 
dumping  in  of  the  garbage  collected  each  day 
from  the  ash  barrels  of  the  entire  city.  Several 
miles  of  tidal  sewers,  one-half  being  of  brick 
on  piles,  and  the  other  half  of  wooden  boxes, 
have  been  constructed  in  this  section  from 
time  to  time  without  any  regard  to  a  precon¬ 
ceived  plan  for  tbe  whole.  They  have  but 
three  outlets.  The  one  at  the  south  end  of 
Jefferson  street  extending  about  six  hundred 
feet  beyond  the  limits  of  the  city,  and  conse- 
quentl}7  outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  your 
Honorable  Body,  empties  into  the  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  and  Western  Railroad  Canal, 
which  is  one  hundred  feet  wide.  This  outlet 
starts  at  Ferry  street  as  a  four  feet  six  inches 
by  six  feet  wooden  box  sewer  reduces  to  a 
thirty-inch  iron  pipe  under  the  southerly  em¬ 
bankment  of  the  railroad,  and  thence  is  said 
to  continue  as  a  crib  box  eight  feet  square, an 
examination  of  which  failed,  however,  to  dis¬ 
cover  any  bottom  except  mud.  The  second 
outlet  is  at  the  southerly  end  of  Park  avenue. 
It  was  built  some  twenty  years  ago  of  crib 
work,  and  is  said  also  to  be  about  eight  feet 
square.  The  bottom  of  the  end  at  the  rail¬ 
road  canal  is  now  about  one  foot  below  low 


water.  Both  these  outlets  are  beyond  the 
city  limits,  and  over  three  thousand  feet  from 
the  currt  nt  of  the  river,  and  are  creating  a 
vile  nuisance  in  the  railroad  canal,  which  at 
some  future  day,  when  Jersey  City  becomes 
more  thickly  populated,  may  have  to  be  aba¬ 
ted.  The  third  outlet  is  through  Third  street, 
commencing  at  Monroe  street,  or  about  one 
thousand  feet  east  of  the  west  boundary  of 
the  city  as  a  three  feet  by  four  feet  wooden 
box :  it  extends  as  such  easterly  for  about  one 
thousand  feet  to  Grand  street,  where  it  con¬ 
nects  with  a  four  foot  circular  brick  sewer ; 
this  latter  increases  to  a  five  foot  sewer  at 
Washington  street,  and  continues  as  such  to 
the  bulkhead  line  at  tbe  Hudson  River.  All 
these  outlets  are  practically  level,  their  bot¬ 
toms  being  at  about  the  elvation  of  low  water. 

The  lateral  sewers  throughout  the  meadow 
district  all  connect  with  these  outlets  and  are 
partially  brick,  two  feet  six  by  three  feet 
nine,  of  oval  shape,  and  partially  wooden 
boxes  three  feet  by  four  feet ;  in  most  cases 
they  are  flat  or  have  very  slight  inclination, 
and  their  bottoms  are  generally  at  the  eleva¬ 
tion  of  about  one  foot  above  mean  low  water. 
In  some  places  water  and  gas  mains  pass 
through  the  sewers,  forming  dams  within. 

The  tide  gates  are  very  imperfect  affairs, 
that  at  Jefferson  street  was  built  to  be  auto¬ 
matic,  but  is  is  now  inoperative.  The  one  at 
Park  avenue,  about  two  feet  square,  is  atten¬ 
ded  by  a  gate  keeper,  while  at  Third  street 
there  is  no  gate  in  operation. 

As  the  modern  system  of  plumbing  prevails 
throughout  the  city,  nearly  all  cesspools  and 
water-closets  are  connected  with  the  sewers. 
When  the  tide  rises  it  carries  the  floating  re¬ 
fuse  discharged  from  the  houses  inland  and 
deposits  it  upon  the  open  meadows.  During 
its  passage  the  sewage  generates  sewer  gas, 
which  accumulates  in  the  upper  open  part  of 
the  sewer,  and  then  as  the  rising  tide  fills  the 
sewers  it  forces  the  dangerous  gases  up  into 
the  dwellings  and  buildings.  This  serious  ex¬ 
posure  to  health  is  not  alone  confined  to  the 
meadow  districts,  but  because  of  the  fact  that 
the  upland  sewers  in  Willow7  avenue,  Park 
avenue  and  Garden  street,  are  connected  with 
the  meadow  sewers,  the  evil  effect  of  the  sew¬ 
er  gas  may,  and  no  doubt  does  extend  to  the 
houses  on  these  streets  as  far  north  as  Thir¬ 
teenth  street. 


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The  object  of  properly  constructed  sewers 
is  to  quickly  and  effectively  carry  of  the  re¬ 
fuse  from  the  houses,  but  from  what  has  been 
•described  above  it  is  easy  to  see  that  this  de¬ 
sideratum  is  far  from  being  attained  under 
the  present  conditions  of  your  sewers  in  the 
meadowr  district.  They  are  not  sewers  in  the 
true  sense,  they  are  nothing  more  or  less  than 
elongated  cesspools,  and  are  not  only  inade¬ 
quate  as  proper  and  healthful  drains  for  your 
houses,  but  by  emptying  their  filthy  contents 
out  on  the  meadows  during  the  ebb  and  flow 
of  the  tide,  convert  what  might  be  a  harmless 
marsh  into  a  pest  hole.  Even  the  river  water 
flowing  in  from  the  river  contributes  towards 
the  evil,  for  the  excreta  and  sink  slops  from 
the  houses,  being  lighter  than  the  salt  water, 
float  on  the  surface  of  the  incoming  tide  far 
out  on  the  meadow  land,  and  is  there  deposit¬ 
ed  on  the  grass  to  fester  and  decay,  causing 
the  disagreeable  smell,  which  at  times  per. 
meates  the  entire  city.  This  state  of  affairs 
exists  largely  over  the  entire  meadow  section 
of  the  city  south  of  Eighth  street.  The  ditch 
which  flows  through  that  street  at  Madison 
street,  and  which  extends  to  Fifteenth  street, 
serves,  it  is  true,  as  a  partial  outlet,  but  on 
the  other  hand  it  also  brings  the  filth  from 
the  sewers  in  the  southern  portion  of  the  city 
up  into  the  northern  part  of  the  marshes  and 
largely  contributes  to  the  disagreeable  odor 
of  which  the  residents  of  the  upper  section  of 
the  city  so  often  complain. 

That  this  condition  of  things  is  dangerously 
effecting  the  health  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
meadow  district  is  attested  by  the  returns  of 
the  Board  of  Health  and  Vital  Statistics,  the 
annual  statement  of  which  for  1889  shows 
a  death  rate  for  each  one  thousand  inhabitants 
in  the  first  ward  of  27,  in  the  third  ward  of 
27.2,  in  the  fourth  ward  of  32,  while  in  the 
second  ward  it  is  but  17.5.  The  annual  rate 
from  zymotic  causes  was:  first  ward,  8.2; 
third  ward,  8.9;  fourth  ward,  9.6;  second 
ward,  4.7. 

RAVINE  ROAD  SEWER. 

By  the  construction  of  Ferry  and  Harrison 
streets  the  overflow  of  the  Ravine  Road  sew¬ 
er  which  drains  some  five  hundred  acres  of 
thickly  populated  area  on  the  hill  has  been 
temporarily  dammed  out,  and  as  Commission¬ 
ers  have  been  appointed  to  provide  a  proper 
outfall  for  this  sewer  the  question  of  that  out¬ 


let  sewer  has  not  been  considered  in  this  ie 
port.  Considerable  drainage  will,  however, 
continue  to  flow  from  the  side  of  the  hill  even 
after  the  Ravine  Road  Sewer  is  completed. 

THE  UPLANDS. 

The  existing  sewers  on  the  uplands  are  in 
good  condition  and  amply  large  for  the  duty 
required  of  them.  On  several  of  the  thickly 
populated  streets  there  are  no  public  sewers, 
the  sewerage  taking  place  through  small 
private  drains.  For  instance,  on  Washing¬ 
ton  street,  between  Ferry  and  Newark  streets; 
on  Washington  street,  between  Sixth  and 
Eighth  streets ;  on  Hudson  street,  from  Ferry 
to  near  Eighth,  and  on  River  street,  between 
Hudson  place  and  Seventh  street.  For  these 
streets  is  shown  on  the  map  the  kind  and 
size  of  sewers  which  should  be  built  in  the 
future. 

The  practice  of  draining  houses  through 
private  drains  is  not  only  wrong,  but  dan¬ 
gerous  to  the  health  of  the  community.  $  All 
sewers  should  be  the  property  of  the  public ; 
accessible  by  man-holes  for  cleaning  out  and 
for  purposes  of  ventilation,  and  all  use  of 
them  should  be  made  under  rules  and  regu¬ 
lations  established  by  the  municipal  authori¬ 
ties. 

The  Bloomfield  street  outlet,. at  its  mouth 
in  the  D.,  L.  &  W.  R.  R.  canal,  is  several 
feet  below  low  water,  so  that  at  high  tide 
this  sewer  is  tide-locked  as  far  north  as  New¬ 
ark  street,  thereby  greatly  impairing  its  dis¬ 
charging  capacity  and  dangerously  obstruct¬ 
ing  its  ventilation.  The  use  of  the  railroad 
canal  as  an  outfall  for  your  sewage  is  de¬ 
cidedly  wrong.  Its  use  should  be  confined  as 
an  outlet  for  overflow  storm  sewers  only, 
and  for  such  use  all  rights  which  this  city 
may  own  in  it  as  an  outlet  should  be  main¬ 
tained.  A  new  outlet  should  be  built  through 
Ferry  street  to  empty  out  in  the  river  be¬ 
yond  the  bulkhead  line  to  drain  the  Bloom¬ 
field  and  Washington  street  sewers. 

The  Newark  sti'eet  outlet,  which  princi¬ 
pally  drains  all  the  area  between  Hudson  and 
Washington  streets  and  south  of  Eighth 
street,  is  overworked.  In  the  first  place  it 
should  be  extended  out  further  into  the  cur¬ 
rent,  and  secondly  a  connection  with  the 
Third  street  sewer  should  be  made  at  Wash¬ 
ington  street  so  as  to  obtain  relief.  This 


1 


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must  not  be  done,  however,  until  the  lower 
district  is  disconnected  from  the  Third  street 
sewer  (which  will  be  described  further  on), 
otherwise  the  volume  of  water  coming  from 
the  upper  portion  of  the  city  would  back  up 
that  sewer  aud  inundate  the  meadows.  The 
Third  street  sewer  must  also  be  extended  out 
to  the  current,  and  a  suitable  tide  gate  pro¬ 
vided.  In  its  present  position  it  is  creating  a 
nuisance. 

The  Eleventh  and  Fourteenth  street  out¬ 
lets  are  adequate,  and  are  now  working  well. 
The  one  at  Eleventh  street,  as  the  city  de- 
veiopes,  will  of  course  be  extended  out  into 
the  stream.  At  present  it  is  causing  more  or 
less  trouble  at  Castle  Point. 

GENERAL  SYSTEM  FOR  THE  DRAINAGE  OF  THE 
MEADOW  DISTRICT 

The  original  strip  of  450  acres  of  marsh 
lands  is  now  divided  into  two  portions  by  the 
embankment  of  Eighth  street.  About  one- 
tialf  of  this  area  has  been  reclaimed  from  the 
swamp  and  is  now  thickly  populated. 

The  southerly  portion  will  be  considered 
first.  A  careful  and  exhaustive  consideration 
as  to  the  feasibility  of  extending  and  im¬ 
proving  the  existing  tidal  system  of  sewers 
in  order  to  bring  relief  to  the  present  evils, 
and  to  provide  for  the  future  growth  of  the 
city,  has  been  made.  But  the  conclusion  has 
been  reached  that  sooner  or  latter  you  must 
resort  to  pumping  in  order  to  gain  proper 
and  efficient  drainage.  This  has  been  the 
result  finally  reached  in  many  localities  con¬ 
taining  low,  flat  districts  where  the  question 
of  drainage  has  received  proper  treatment. 
As  for  instance,  may  be  mentioned  Boston, 
Mass. ;  Newark,  N.  J. ;  Norfolk,  Va. ;  Stan 
ford,  Conn.;  Chicago,  Ill.;  Milwaukee,  Wis., 
&c.,  and  in  Europe,  London,  Berlin,  Dantzig, 
Hull,  &c.  The  next  thing  considered  care¬ 
fully  was  whether  the  separate  or  combined 
system  was  most  suitable  and  economical  to 
meet  your  circumstances,  for  the  arrange¬ 
ments  of  the  lines  of  the  sewers  and  their 
size  materially  depend  upon  the  system 
adopted.  Without  going  into  detail,  it  can 
be  explained  that  by  the  separate  system  is 
understood  the  erection  of  two  sets  of  sewers, 
one  for  the  discharging  of  house  refuse  and 
iroof  water  (generally  through  small  pipes 
and  sewers) ,  and  another  set  for  discharging 


rain  water  from  the  streets  and  subsoil  only ;  *) 

while  by  the  combined  system  is  understood 
the  building  of  sewers  large  enough  to  carry 
simultaneously  the  house  refuse  and  all  rain 
water.  The  decision  as  to  which  system  to  * 

adopt  was  a  very  important  part  of  the  sub¬ 
ject,  and  had  to  be  carefully  taken  into  ac¬ 
count,  for  the  cost  of  the  maintainance  of 
the  pumps  will  depend  entirely  on  the  amount 
of  water  raised. 

So  far  as  the  territory  south  of  Eighth 
street  is  concerned,  the  combined  system  is 
most  advantageous,  for  the  reason  that 
nearly  one-half  of  the  area  is  now  sewered, 
in  most  cases,  with  oval  brick  sewers  2. 6x3.9 
that  must  be  utilized,  and  as  all  sewers  must 
be  built  on  piles,  which  in  many  places  will 
have  to  be  driven  to  great  depths,  thereby 
making  the  cost  unusually  large,  it  is  impera¬ 
tive  that  the  general  plan  of  sewerage  for 
the  entire  district  should  provide  for  as  few 
sewers  as  possible  consistent  with  proper 
drainage.  ’ 

Further,  the  usual  small  size  sewers  used 
in  the  separate  system  as  house  and  roof 
water  drains  would  be  inadequate  here,  for 
the  reason  that  this  district  is  now,  and  will  v; 
no  doubt  continue  to  be,  built  up  of  tene¬ 
ments  and  factories,  and  as  the  practice  in 
your  city  is  to  build  upon  from  50  per  cent, 
to  60  per  cent,  of  the  lot  area,  a  very  large 
allowance  for  roof  water  would  have  to  be 
provided  for. 

All  the  sewers  shown  on  the  plans  are  pro¬ 
portioned  to  give  minimum  or  self  cleaning 
velocities  of  2  1-2  feet  per  second  when  run¬ 
ning  full.  The  grades  being  in  nearly  all 
cases  three  inches  in  each  one  hundred  feet, 
and  the  discharge  being  based  on  one  half  of 
a  rain  fall  of  one  inch  per  hour. 

By  reference  to  the  map  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  well  is  located  in  the  southern  portion  of 
the  city  near  Ferry  street,  on  the  line  of  what 
would  be  Clinton  street  if  that  street  were 
produced  southerly.  The  exact  location  of 
course  cannot  be  stated  until  the  question  of 
a  site  is  determined.  The  bottom  of  the  well 
is  to  be  at  about  fourteen  feet  below  mean 
high  water  or  nine  and  one  quarter  feet  below 
mean  low  water  in  the  Hudson  River.  Into 
this  well  will  run  an  intercepting  or  main 
sewer,  commencing  at  Fourth  street,  and  the 
west  boudary  of  the  city  on  an  elevation  of  { 


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three  feet  below  mean  high  water  or  eight 
feet  below  the  street  grade,  and  one  foot  be¬ 
low  the  present  surface  of  the  meadows. 
From  thence  it  will  continue  through  Fourth 
street  to  Monroe  street ;  thence  north  to  Fifth ; 
thence  east  to  Grand  street;  thence  south  to 
Fourth  street;  thence  east  to  Clinton  street; 
thence  south  to  the  well,  which  it  will  enter 
at  an  elevation  of  13.3  below  mean  high  water. 
A  spur  branch  extends  through  Monroe  street 
to  Sixth  street,  thence  west  to  the  boundary. 
This  line  for  the  main  sewer  was  chosen  for 
several  reasons;  first,  the  presen  sewer  in 
Clinton  street  is  an  old  wo'oden  box  which 
sooner  or  later  will  have  to  be  rebuilt,  two 
blocks  of  it  is  built  on  piles,  which  can  be 
utilized  in  the  construction  of  the  new  main ; 
secondly,  the  location  of  the  main  through 
Fourth  street  and  Fifth  street  not  only  taps 
all  the  existing  sewers,  but  the  route  affords 
an  economical  alignment  for  the  future  lateral 
sewers,  thus  forming  a  valley  to  which  all 
sewers  between  Second  and  Eighth  Streets 
will  flow.  These  lateral  sewers  as  will  be 
seen  by  the  map  need  be  but  twelve,  fifteen, 
eighteen  and  twenty-four  inch  pipes. 

For  that  portion  of  the  district  south  of 
Second  street  another  valley  or  intercepting 
main  through  Ferry  street  and  Newark  ave¬ 
nue  is  provided.  It  commences  at  the  west 
boundary  on  an  elevation  of  three  and  a  half 
feet  below  mean  high  water,  continues  east  to 
Jefferson  street,  where  it  will  be  five  feet  be¬ 
low  the  same  datum ;  and  thence  east  through 
Newark  avenue  to  the  well  which  it  will  enter 
at  an  elevation  of  7  1-2  feet  below  mean  high 
water.  A  spur  to  the  main  extends  west 
through  Paterson  Plank  road  to  the  boundary. 

From  the  well  a  cast  iron  tail  overflow  sew- 
<er  is  to  be  built  to  discharge  the  sewage 
through  Ferry  street  into  the  river  at  the 
pier  line. 

The  area  drained  by  the  well  will  be  all  that 
territory  between  Park  avenue  and  the  hill 
Third  and  Eighth  streets,  all  Garden  street 
and  the  hill,  Third  street  and  the  southern 
boundary,  and  the  remaining  portion  of  Wil¬ 
low  avenue  sewer  area  between  Eighth  and 
Twelfth  streets,  the  whole  comprising  two 
hundred  and  eighty-six  acres,  to  which  should 
be  added  fifty  acres  draining  from  the  Pali¬ 
sades.  In  the  distant  future  when  the  hill 


district  is  fully  sewered,  this  will  be  material¬ 
ly  reduced. 

In  order  to  reduce  the  area  to  be  drained 
by  the  pump  well  as  much  as  possible,  a  new 
branch  sewer  must  be  built  through  Seventh 
street,  from  Park  avenue  to  Garden  street,  so 
as  to  conduct  the  sewage  from  the  Park  ave- 
enue  sewer  north  of  Seventh  street  into  the 
Garden  street  sewer,  and  so  into  the  Hudson 
river. 

All  the  present  outlets  will  be  closed  by  au¬ 
tomatic  overflow  gates.  The  one  in  the  Third 
street  sewer  will  be  placed  at  Garden  stret, 
and  that  intersection  reconstructed  so  as  to 
change  the  sewage  coming  through  Garden 
street  sewer  north  of  Third  street  easterly  in¬ 
to  the  Third  street  sewer  and  so  empty  into 
the  river.  The  sewage  from  the  Garden  street 
sewer  south  of  Third  street  is  to  be  turned 
west,  and  will  finally  discharge  into  the  well. 

At  the  well,  in  a  neat  substantial  building 
will  be  erected  four  centrifugal  pumps  having 
a  capacity  in  twenty-four  hours  of  fifty- four 
million  U.  S.  gallons,  when  all  four  are  in 
operation  which,  however,  will  not  be  re 
quired  until  a  storm  occurs  approaching  in 
intensity  to  that  which  took  place  in  1882, 
when  it  rained  6.17  inches  in  twenty-four 
hours  and  which  was  the  greatest  storm  that 
visited  this  region  since  1854.  In  other  words 
ample  pumping  capacity  is  provided  in  these 
four  pumps  for  a  fall  of  six  inches  rain  storm 
over  the  entire  area  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty-six  acres  when  attended  by  a  high  tide, 
which  may  be  three  feet  higher  than  the 
usual  or  mean  high  water. 

Full  data  as  to  the  storms  for  the  last  19 
years  was  obtained  from  the  New  York  office 
of  the  United  States  Signal  Service  Depart- 
men',  and  which  are  hereto  annexed. 

OPERATION  OF  THE  SYSTEM. 

When  all  the  connections  with  the  river  are 
closed,  the  house  refuse  and  rain  water  will 
flow  to  the  well.  In  the  new  sewer  north  of 
Fifth  street,  which  will  be  built  from  time  to 
time  as  the  growth  of  the  city  demands, 
and  also  in  the  new  mains,  the  rain  water 
will  flush  out  any  deposit  accumulated  during 
dry  weather  flow.  This  will  also  be  the  case 
to  a  great  extent  with  most  of  the  old  sewers, 
although  some  of  the  very  flat  ones,  and  those 
with  irregular  bottoms,  and  those  obstructe 


T 


8 


by  water  and  gas  mains,  will  need  cleaning 
out.  The  latter  should  be  reconstructed. 

There  being  no  tide  in  any  of  the  sewers, 
the  present  evil  from  the  displacement  of 
sewer  gas  will  be'averted  and  no  backingr:up 
of  the  tide  will  occur. 

As  all  future  sewers  will  be  placed  from  three 
to  nine  feet  below  mean  high  water,  and  from 
eight  to  fourteen  feet  bel  w  the  established 
grade  of  the  streets,  an  opportunity  will  be 
afforded  for  the  construction  of  cellars.  In 
such  cases  these  cellars  must  be  connected 
with  the  sewers  through  separate  house  con¬ 
nections,  and  valves,  which  can  be  automatic, 
placed  inside  the  walls  of  the  buildings, which 
will  close  in  the  event  of  any  accident  to  the 
pumps  or  the  possible  occurrence  of  an  over¬ 
flow  from  storms  by  the  rising  water.  In 
fact  all  connections  with  all  sewers  should  be 
regulated  bjr  proper  rules  established  by  your 
Honorable  Body.  In  the  unexpected  event  of 
a  storm  with  which  the  pumps  could  not 
cope,  the  gates  on  the  old  tidal  outlets  would 
come  into  operation  and  the  tidal  system  for 
the  time  being  would  prevail  and  those  cellars 
below  high  water  level  having  their  sewer 
valves  closed  would  be  protected  from  inun¬ 
dation. 

FLUSHING. 

The  high  water  of  the  river  can  be  let  into 
the  sewers,  and  the  entire  system  flushed  out 
whenever  it  is  desired 

PRELIMINARY  WORK  NECESSARY  TO  INAUGU¬ 
RATE  THE  SYSTEM  SOUTH  OF 
EIGHTH  STREET. 

In  order  to  put  into  immediate  operation 
this  system  for  the  territory  south  of  Eighth 
street,  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  wait  until 
the  main  intercepting  sewers  are  built;  in 
fact  the  new  mains  and  laterals  need  only  be 
constructed  as  the  growth  of  the  city  requires 
them. 

It 'will  require  the  immediate  construction 
of  the  well  and  pumps  and  sufficient  inter¬ 
cepting  sewer  to  connect  the  well  with  the 
present  Newark  avenue  tidal  sewer,  and  a 
cast-iron  tail  force  main  between  the  well  and 
the  present  eight-foot  outlet  at  Ferry  street 
and  Park  avenue. 

As  nearly  all  the  existing  sewers  intersect 
each  other  at  the  numerous  street  crossings 
and  are  generally  at  an  elevation  of  from  low 


to  one  foot  above  low  water  level  their  con¬ 
tents  will  flow  into  the  well. 

With  the  gates  on  all  the  tidal  outlets 
closed,  and  the  branch  sewer  in  Seventh 
street,  and  the  alterations  in  the  Third  street 
sewer,  the  area  to  be  drained  by  the  pumps 
will  be  limited  to  the  2^  acres  already  above 
described. 

The  estimated  cost  of  the  preliminary  work 
should  be  as  follows: 

Branch  sewer  at  Seventh  street  and  six- 
foot  intercepting  sewer  from  Newark 

avenue  to  the  well .  $7,500  00 

Cast-iron  outfall  from  well  to  Park  ave¬ 
nue  outlet,  and  gates  at  all  outlets  and 
changes  at  Third  and  Garden  streets.  16,000  00 
Well,  four  pumps, engmrs,  boilers,  build¬ 
ings,  land  and  incidentals .  86.500  00 


Total . $110,000  00 

The  annual  cost  of  maintenance  for  the  dis¬ 
trict  south  of  Eighth  street  will  be  $15,000.00. 

With  this  plant  in  operation,  the  present 
built  up  portion  of  the  meadow  district  would 
be  afforded  a  good  outlet  to  the  existing 
sewers,  and  the  water  on  the  marsh  lands 
could  be  removed  or  maintained  at  any 
heighth  desired.  The  improvement  in  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants  and 
advancement  of  value  in  property  which 
would  surely  follow  the  introduction  of  this 
system  of  draining  would  more  than  compen¬ 
sate  for  all  necessary  outlays.  The  construc¬ 
tion  of  the  new  main  intercepting  sewers  in 
Clinton  street,  Fourth  street,  Grand  street 
and  Fifth  street  should  follow  next  as  soon  as 
possible,  in  order  to  provide  for  the  early  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  new  district  north  of  Fifth 
street,  and  also  to  insure  a  more  thorough 
connection  of  the  existing  sewers  with  the 
well.  The  cost  of  that  portion  from  Newark 
to  Fifth  streets  would  be  $35,000.00.  These 
outlays  would  extend  over  a  period  of  time 
depending  on  the  growth  of  the  territory 
The  construction  of  the  Ferry  street  and 
Newark  avenue  intercepting  sewer,  which 
will  cost  $30,000.00,  and  also  the  remaining 
portion  of  the  iron  tail  outfall  to  the  river  at 
a  cost  of  $30,000.00,  should  also  immediately 
follow,  or  at  such  time  as  the  nature  of  cir¬ 
cumstances  would  indicate  their  absolute  ne¬ 
cessity. 


TERRITORY  NORTH  OF  EIGHTH  STREET. 


This  area  comprises  about  135  acres,  100  of 
which  are  marsh  lands.  There  are  very  few 
buildings  in  the  district,  but  like  in  the  lower 


1. 

( 

/ 


> 


9 


portion  of  the  city  the  original  condition  of 
the  meadows  have  been  changed,  being  dam- 
k  med  up  by  the  embankment  of  Eighth, 

Twelfth, Thirteenth,  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth 
streets  and  that  of  the  New  Jersey  Junction 
ij  Railroad.  All  these  cross  the  entire  width  of 

*  the  marshes,  forming  it  into  five  depressions 

or  basins  which  receive  the  drainage  from 
about  100  acres  on  the  Palisades.  One  ditch 
■eight  feet  wide  and  one  foot  deep  runs  through¬ 
out  the  entire  length  and  finds  an  outlet  in 
the  cove  near  the  foot  of  Fifteenth  street.  As 
this  ditch  continues  south  to  the  Madison 
street  sewer  at  Fifth  street  it  carries  into 
these  northern  districts  as  already  stated  more 
or  less  sewage  filth.  Immediate  temporary 
relief  to  this  section  may  be  had  by  closing 
out  the  sewage  at  Eighth  street;  constructing 
at  once  as  shown  on  the  map  a  four  by  eight 
feet  sewer  with  proper  tide  gates  at  Fifteenth 
street  to  intercept  the  present  main  ditch. 
Intelligent  ditching  should  be  done  through¬ 
out  all  the  streets  shown  on  the  city  map  run¬ 
ning  north  and  south,  and  ample  culverts 
■constructed  under  the  present  streets;  all 
these  ditches  must  be  kept  constantly  open 
and  in  good  repair  by  systematic  supervision ; 
the  object  being  to  provide  ample  outlets  for 
these  marshes,  and  to  keep  them  free  from 

^  sewage. 

GENERAL  SEWER  A.GE  PLAN. 

^  Thb  “combined”  system,  with  pumping, 

■has  also  been  adopted  for  this  section  of  the 
oily.  The  reasons  which  make  that  method 
of  draining  the  most  advantageous  one  for 
the  territory  south  of  Eighth  street,  apply 
with  equal  force  to  this  area. 

'  The  map  shows  the  main  and  lateral  sewers 
which  must  be  built  from  time  to  time  as  the 
future  growth  of  the  city  requires.  The 
pump  well  can  be  located  near  Fifteenth 
street  and  Park  avenue,  and  for  some  years 
during  the  gradual  increase  in  the  population 
of  this  section,  the  Fourteenth  street  sewer, 
which  empties  out  in  the  current  will  answer 


as  an  outfall  sewer  from  the  pump.  It  is  im¬ 
possible  at  this  early  day  to  anticipate  the 
future  devolopement  of  the  “cove”  sufficiently 
to  determine  on  the  permanent  location  of 
either  the  well  or  the  discharging  outfall. 

The  newr  Fifteenth  street  tidal  sewer  will 
answer  as  the  overflow  outlet.  This  should 
be  extended  as  shown  on  the  map  down  Wil¬ 
low  avenue  and  connect  with  the  present 
sewer  at  Twelfth  street,  thus  making  a  union 
between  the  upper  and  lower  districts.  Be¬ 
sides,  it  will  afford  sewerage  to  those  houses 
now  in  Willow  avenue,  and  this  street  being 
the  principal  thoroughfare,  and  most  likely  to 
be  built  up  first,  this  tidal  sewer  will  answer 
the  purpose  of  drainage  until  such  time  as  the 
growth  of  the  district  demands  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  the  pumps.  Further,  as  the  small 
piece  of  uplands  between  Tenth  and  Twelfth 
streets,  west  of  Willow  avenue,  is  most  likely 
to  develop  before  the  meadow  portion,  this 
sewer  in  Willow  avenue  would  serve  the 
purpose  of  a  tidal  main,  and  intelligent 
changes  to  that  end  could  be  made  in  the 
plan  without  vitiating  the  general  design.  To 
attempt,  however,  to  extend  the  tidal  system 
into  the  meadow  territory,  would  be  to  re¬ 
peat  the  same  errors  committed  in  the  south¬ 
erly  portion  of  the  city. 

The  cost  of  the  four  by  eight  foot  tidal  sew¬ 
er  will  be  about  $15  per  lineal  foot. 

Pumping  capacity  to  the  extent  of  thirty- 
eight  million  U.  S.  gallons  in  twenty-four 
hours  will  be  required  for  this  district.  This 
capacity  is  determined  upon  the  same  data  as 
to  storm  water  as  was  used  in  the  lower 
section,  allowance  being  made  for  not  only 
the  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  acres  within  v 
the  boundaries  of  Hoboken,  but  it  also  pro¬ 
vides  for  the  possible  natural  drainage  from 
one  hundred  acres  on  the  hill.  If,  however, 
before  you  introduce  the  pumps,  this  hill 
drainage  is  taken  care  of,  as  is  now  under 
contemplation,  a  corresponding  reduction  can 
be  made  in  your  future  pumping  plant. 

T.  H.  M.cCann, 

City  Surveyor. 


10 


STATEMENT  OF  PRECIPITATION  IN  HUNDREDTHS  OF  AN  INCH|OBTAINED  FROM  THE  NEW  YORK 
OFFICE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  SIGNAL  SERVICE. 


Year. 

Jan. 

Feb. 

Mar. 

Apr. 

M  Y.f 

June. 

July. 

Aug. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Nov. 

Dec. 

Total. 

1871.. 

1.15 

3.86 

4.90 

3.41 

4.49 

7.14 

3.60 

5.48 

2.13 

7*04 

4.33 

1.24 

48.80 

1872.. 

2.40 

1.45 

3.93 

2.49 

2.44 

2.94 

9.45 

6.13 

3  44 

3.54 

5.04 

2.54 

45.79 

1878.. 

5.05 

1.73 

1.92 

3.05 

4.08 

1.29 

4.15 

7.66 

2.51 

2.47 

4.01 

2.06 

39.98 

1874.. 

4.82 

2.41 

1.88 

7.02 

2.16 

2.87 

3.22 

2.53 

7.21 

1.82 

2.21 

2.69 

40.84 

1875.. 

2.77 

3.23 

4.25 

3.21 

1.47 

1.66 

5.23 

10.42 

2.51 

3.13 

4.43 

2.78 

45.09 

1876.. 

1.21 

5.39 

7.90 

3.79 

3.94 

2.87 

5.72 

2.97 

5.24 

1.68 

4.40 

2  29 

47.40 

1877.. 

I  3.55 

1.67 

6.65 

3.18 

0.73 

3.31 

3.86 

2.54 

1.33 

7.69 

5.48 

0.95 

40.94 

1878.. 

4.53 

3.41 

4.02 

1.93 

3.73 

•  2.91 

5.26 

7.30 

3.20 

1  71 

3.74 

4.93 

46.67 

1879. . 

3.05 

2.74 

2.04 

4.06 

2.33 

3.42 

3.39 

5.17 

1.45 

3.58 

2.21 

5.79 

36.13 

1880. . 

2.19 

2.11 

4.66 

3.18 

0.82 

1.69 

6.67 

4.40 

2.26 

2.81 

2.40 

4.15 

37.34 

1881.. 

5.41 

5.06 

6. ,78 

1.00 

2.33 

6.23 

1.31 

1.56 

1.38 

2.10 

2.87 

4.37 

40.40 

1882.. 

6.15 

4.36 

2.32 

2.15 

4.21 

2.87 

2.75 

1.63 

14.51 

1.69 

1.80 

2.22 

46.61 

1888.: 

3.22 

4.58 

1.63 

3.82 

3.03 

4.00 

3.37 

2.29 

3.57 

4.27 

1.65 

3^40 

38.83 

1884.. 

6.07 

5.09 

4.43 

2.66 

4.35 

4.16 

6.14 

8.56 

0.15 

3.63 

3.44 

6.66 

55.34 

1885.. 

3.50 

6.09 

1.19 

2.44 

2.22 

1.86 

3  04 

7.70 

0.72 

5.62 

5.05 

2.69 

42.12 

1886. . 

5  02 

5.90 

3.54 

4.95 

6.53 

3.01 

2.57 

1.18 

1.79 

3.90 

4.61 

3.73 

46.73 

1887.. 

4.19 

5.26 

3.51 

3.67 

0.99 

7.70 

6,75 

3.66 

2.30 

2.36 

2.04 

4.20 

46.63 

1888.. 

5.14 

4.03 

5.64 

3.57 

4.87 

1.68 

1,27 

6.35 

7.40 

4.14 

4.81 

4.05 

52.95 

1889.. 

5.38 

3.07 

4.09 

5.90 

3.25 

2.38 

9.63 

3.39 

7.43 

2.53 

9.82 

1.81 

58.68 

1890.. 

2.95 

3.86 

6  67 

2.58 

3.11 

4.19 

A  “rainy  dav”  is  one  on  which  .01  inch  or  more  ram  fell  in  24  hours. 


MAXIMUM  STORM  EACH  YEAR. 


YEAR 

PRECIP¬ 

ITATION 

DATE. 

NO.  OF 
RAIN  ^ 
DAYS. 

1871.. 

2.37 

March  24 . 

1 10 

1872.. 

3.80 

July  26 . 

:99 

1873.. 

2.24 

August.21 . 

124 

1874. . 

2.41 

September  17 . 

99 

1875 . . 

3.34 

August  12 . 

153 

1876.. 

3.45 

March  25 . 

147 

1877.. 

4.02 

October  4 . 

123 

1878.. 

2.11 

February  22 . 

132 

1879.. 

1.11 

Majr  19 . . . 

135 

1880.. 

1.81 

July  22  . 

133 

1881.. 

2.40 

March  19 . 

127 

1882.. 

6.17 

September  23-24 . 

141 

1883 . . 

2  31 

May  21-22 . 

141 

1884. . 

3.63 

June  25-26 . . 

135 

1885.. 

2.87 

August  2-3 . 

111 

1886.. 

3.72 

April  5-6 . 

115 

1887.. 

3.13 

Juue  22-23 . 

130 

1888.. 

3.93 

August  21-22 . 

146 

1889.. 

1890.. 

2.92 

November  9 . . 

152 

New  York,  Sept.  9,  1890. 
To  the  Honorable  Mayor  and  Council 
of  the  City  of  Hoboken: 

Gentlemen — On  June  11,  1890,  your  Hon¬ 
orable  body  passed  the  following  resolution: 

“  Resolved,  That  City  Surveyor  Thomas  H. 


McCann  is  hereby  instructed  to  prepare,  in 
co-operation  with  Alphonse  Fteley,  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  New  York  Aqueduct  Com¬ 
missioners,  a  general  sewerage  plan  of  the 
city,  to  be  presented  to  this  Board,  with  their 
report,  as  soon  as  possible.” 

In  order  to  carry  out  the  instructions  there¬ 
in  contained,  I  have  have  visited  Hoboken 
several  times  and  frequently  conferred  with 
Mr.  McCann.  The  main  conclusions  reached 
in  his  report  have  been  arrived  at  after  a 
full  discussion  of  all  points  of  importance, 
and  are  concurred  in  by  the  writer.  It  may 
not  be  out  of  place,  however,  that,  without 
referring  again  to  the  details  of  construction, 
I  should  add  a  few  words  as  to  the  reasons 
which  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  plan  herein 
recommended. 

The  territory  of  Hoboken  covers  an  area 
of  about  720  acres.  It  is  in  the  form  of  an 
irregular  parallelogram  (its  longest  side 
north  and  south),  and,  originally,  was  almost 
wholly  occupied  by  marshes  freely  opened  to 
tidal  water,  the  only  exception  being  a  cen¬ 
tral  ridge  270  acres  in  area  on  the  edge  of  the 
river.  This  ridge  being  in  the  most  favorable 
natural  conditions  as  to  drainage,  no  special 
comment  is  necessary,  with  the  exception  that 
its  sewers,  which  are  already  built,  and 
which  are,  I  am  informed,  generally  in  good 
condition,  should  be  properly  arranged  to 
act  in  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  system. 


4, 


4j 


) 


11 


The  area  covered  by  the  city  proper  is  conse¬ 
quently  limited,  but  your  territory  now  re¬ 
ceives  in  addition  the  drainage  of  150  acres 
of  the  high  grounds  in  Jersey  City  and  in 
the  town  of  West  Hoboken,  on  the  western 
boundary  of  Hoboken.  The  drainage  of  that 
territory  is  a  burden  of  no  small  magnitude 
for  your  city.  I  am  informed,  however, 
that  you  expect  to  be  gradually  relieved  of 
it,  as  a  system  of  sewerage  is  being  perfected 
in  the  neighboring  communities  just  named. 
The  size  of  the  sewers  has  been  s©  propor¬ 
tioned  as  to  provide  for  that  district,  but  the 
drainage  therefrom  should  be  excluded  in 
time  for  the  better  working  of  the  system 
which  is  now  recommended. 

From  what  precedes  it  follows  that  the 
treatment  of  the  low  lands,  which  were  for¬ 
merly,  and  are  now,  occupied  by  marshes, 
has  been  the  principal  subject  of  our  labors. 

The  comparatively  small  area  of  your  city 
and  its  situation  on  the  bank  of  the  Hudson 
river  are  two  very  favorable  conditions  for 
good  and  economical  sewerage,  but  the  uni¬ 
formly  low  surface  of  the  land  now  under 
consideration  renders  the  problem  more  diffi¬ 
cult  of  solution. 

Owing  to  the  location  and  size  of  your  city 
the  idea  of  disposing  of  the  sewrage  by  artifi¬ 
cial  means,  such  as  chemical  treatment  or 
filtration  through  earth,  must  obviously  be 
excluded.  You  have  indeed  adopted  from 
the  beginning  the  most  advisable  method, 
that  of  discharging  the  contents  of  the  sew¬ 
ers  into  the  river;  but,  unfortunately,  in¬ 
stead  of  devising  at  an  early  date  a  general 
sewerage  system,  and  of  building  gradually 
your  sewers  to  follow  its  requirements,  they 
have  been  built  without  preconcerted  study, 
for  the  purpose  of  meeting  immediate  and 
local  needs.  In  making  this  statement  no  re¬ 
flection  is  intended  on  their  designers,  who,  I 
am  informed,  were  called  upon  from  time  to 
time  to  build  individual  drains,  and  who,  in 
the  absence  of  a  well  established  plan,  could 
only  devise  to  the  best  of  their  power  the 
means  of  meeting  local  requirements. 

The  fact  remains  that  the  sewers  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  city  are  built  so  close  to 
the  surface  that  the  water  stands  in  the 
ground  a  very  few  feet  from  the  street  level ; 
that  their  inclination  towards  the  river  is 
either  null  or  very  small,  and  that  their  dis¬ 


charge  into  tide  water  is  slow  and  imperfect. 
The  public  seldom  realizes  the  actual  condi¬ 
tion  of  public  works  built  out  of  sight  under¬ 
ground,  but  were  it  possible  to  uncover  at 
once  all  the  sewers  now  built  in  the  low  lands 
and  to  show  you  their  condition,  there  would 
be  exposed  to  view  a  net  of  open  ditches 
more  than  seven  miles  in  aggregate  length, 
partly  filled  with  black,  offensive  silt,  while 
above  it  ebbs  and  flows  with  the  tide  a  filthy 
liquid,  the  movement  of  which  towards  the 
river  is  so  slow  that  the  organic  matters 
therein  contained  have  ample  time  to  decom¬ 
pose  and  to  emit  deleterious  gases. 

The  result  of  this  state  of  things  are: — A 
high  death  rate,  inferior  sanitary  conditions* 
general  discomfort,  and  depredation  of  prop¬ 
erty. 

Your  attention  has  been  called  before  to- 
these  crying  evils,  and  several  times  during 
the  last  twenty  years  the  question  has  been 
agitated  of  improving  the  sewerage  of  the 
flat  lands. 

You  have  recently  ordered  that  the  street 
grades  should  not  be,  in  future,  below  eleva¬ 
tion  five  above  mean  high  tide,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that,  in  the  course  ©f  time,  the  ad¬ 
vantages  derived  from  an  improved  system 
of  drainage  would  induce  your  citizens  to  fill 
up  the  portions  now  built  upon  where  the 
surface  of  the  street  is  much  lower. 

A  very  much  higher  grade  than  elevation 
five  would  be  necessary  to  enable  you  to  build 
a  proper  system  of  sewerage  working  by  grav¬ 
ity  only,  but  similar  results  can  be  obtained 
at  a  much  smaller  cost  by  lowering  the 
grades  of  the  sewers  to  be  built  and  by 
pumping. 

This  mode  of  sewerage,  which  is  now  rec¬ 
ommended,  cannot  be  considered  as  an  ex¬ 
periment;  it  has  been  tested  in  a  number  of 
conspicuous  instances  and  found  successful  in 
cases  similar  to  yours.  By  its  means  your 
sewers  can  be  built  with  sufficient  inclination 
to  be  self-cleansing,  their  contents  can  be 
quickly  discharged  into  tide  water,  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  noxious  gases  can  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum  if  not  arrested,  cellars  can  be  prop¬ 
erly  built  and  maintained,  and  the  level  of 
the  water  can  be  lowered  in  the  ground,  to 
the  great  gain  of  public  health.  Against 
these  priceless  advantages  the  drawbacks 
which  may  result  from  the  fluctuation  of 


3  0112  077601 


463 


12 


ground  water  should  not  be  weighed  a  mo¬ 
ment. 

In  order  to  diminish  the  lift  of  the  sewage 
by  the  pumps,  it  has  been  thought  advisable 
to  divide  the  low  lands  in  two  parts,  sepa¬ 
rated  by  the  embankment  of  Eighth  street. 
To  these  two  parts  the  same  system  is  appli¬ 
cable,  with  the  only  difference  that,  in  the 
southern  portion,  the  existence  of  the  old 
sewers  would  diminish  the  efficiency  of  the 
plan.  They  would  be  drained  readily,  but 
they  would  not  be  self-cleansing,  and  the 
level  of  the  ground  water  would  not  be  ma¬ 
terially  lowered  until,  in  the  course  of  time 
(especially  in  the  case  of  the  wooden  sewers), 
they  were  gradually  replaced  by  new  struc¬ 
tures  built  in  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the 
system.  North  of  Eighth  street,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  the  plan  proposed  can  be  fully  carried 
out. 

In  both  cases  the  system  proposed  would 
include: 

First — A  number  of  lateral  sewers  to  be 
gradually  built,  of  sufficient  capacity  to  car¬ 
ry  all  sewage  and  rain  water  quickly  to  the 
pumps. 

Second — One  or  more  main  sewers  to  col¬ 
lect  the  contents  of  those  just  described  and 
to  convey  them  to  the  pumping  apparatus. 

Third — A  pumping  station. 

Fourth — An  out-fall  sewer,  to  convey  the 
discharge  of  the  pumps  to  tide  water. 

Fifth — One*  or  more  overflow  sewers  of 
large  capacity  to  assist  the  pumps,  or  to  act 
in  their  place,  in  case  of  emergency. 

Centrifugal  pumps  are  recommended.  That 
class  of  engines  has  been  brought  to  a  great 
degree  of  efficiency.  They  can  be  established 
at  a  comparatively  moderate  cost,  and  are 
well  adapted  to  the  lifting  of  sewage,  and, 
generally,  of  liquids  containing  solid  mat¬ 
ters. 

In  the  present  case  the  pumps  are  cal¬ 
culated  to  take  care  of  all  the  sewage  and  of 
all  rain  that  may  fall  on  the  territory.  The 
small  area  of  the  latter  makes  it  practicable 
to  do  so  without  excessive  cost,  and  in  order 
to  adapt  the  machinery  to  the  ever-changing 
duties  that  it  would  have  to  perform,  it  is 


thought  advisable  to  erect  four  pumps  which 
can  be  used  independently  in  such  number  as 
the  quantity  of  rain  fall  may  call  for. 

By  the  erection  of  a  pumping  station,  of  an 
out-fall  sewer,  and  of  several  connections  in¬ 
dicated  in  Mr.  McCann’s  report,  you  can  re¬ 
lieve  the  southern  district  materially  without 
waiting  for  the  main  sewers,  the  construction 
of  which  should,  however,  follow  without 
delay. 

As  to  the  northern  district,  on  which  but 
few  buildings  now  stand,  while  the  general 
features  of  the  proposed  system  of  sewerage 
should,  in  my  opinion,  be  followed,  it  is  ob¬ 
vious  that  its  further  development  must 
necessarily  depend  upon  the  growth  of  the 
city  in  that  direction. 

In  conclusion,  I  must  say  that  a  portion  of 
your  sewerage  system  is  now  in  a  deplorable 
condition:  that  in  justice  to  the  citizens  . 
whose  lives,  as  is  shown  by  the  health  re¬ 
turns,  are  exposed  to  excessive  risks,  prompt 
action  should  be  taken,  and  that  whatever 
may  be  the  expenditure  that  you  may  have 
to  incur  for  the  purpose  of  remedying  the 
present  evils,  the  investment  cannot  fail  from 
being  remunerative.  If  it  were  represented 
that  while  the  present  system  requires  very 
little  or  no  superintendence,  and  that  the 
proposed  plan  commits  you  to  a  large  yearly 
outlay,  I  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  you 
are  suffering  to-day  from  grave  and  growing 
evils,  which  would  have  been  prevented  if 
you  had  adopted,  at  an  earlier  period,  the 
suggestions  of  your  advisers,  and  that  unless 
you  decide  without  delay  to  meet  the  cost  of 
necessary  improvements,  the  legitimate 
growth  of  your  city  will  be  greatly  retarded. 

If  you  decide  to  build  the  improvement 
recommended,  the  whole  sewerage  /  plant 
should  be  put  under  responsible  direction  in 
order  to  secure  unity  of  action  at  all  points, 
and  all  future  developments  of  the  system 
should  be  made  in  accordance  with  the  pro-  * 
ject  herewith  presented  in  all  its  main  fea¬ 
tures. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

A.  Fteley, 
Consulting  Engineer. 


